Hear Paul McCartney’s New Christmas Song

It’s difficult to match the uniqueness of Paul McCartney’s 1979 holiday original, the now-classic “Wonderful Christmastime,” so jolly old saint Macca isn’t even trying. He’s released his new Christmas song for streaming on RollingStone.com today, but you can hear a preview of it here below.

The track is a cover, as most holiday songs tend to be, of the Christmas standard “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire).” The jazzy rendition sounds as though McCartney is lightly caressing his fingers over the piano keys and giving his most elegant croon. The mood of the whole thing certainly fits in line with McCartney’s most recent album, 2012’s Kisses on the Bottom, a collection of classic pop covers.

McCartney’s “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” will be featured on a new compilation album titled Holidays Rule, out Tuesday (October 30). It features a slew of covers from indie rockers, including The Shins, fun., The Civil Wars, Andrew Bird, and Rufus Wainwright & Sharon Van Etten. McCartney’s representing the classics contingency, it seems.